Managing Work & Family

1. Managing Work & Family Chapter 10

2. Work & Family Conflicts • Person who is heavily involved in one domain (work or family) may not be psychologically or physically available for the other • Conflict may arise when person is torn between work & family demands • Conflict may also arise when a spouse, coworkers, employer, and children differ over how person’s time should be allocated • Work pressures & constant travel can strain personal relations

3. Benefits of Work & Spillover to Families • Most women work primarily for the money; secondarily because they seek personal self-actualization • Promotions, praise, awards, & raises can increase self-esteem • Employer-sponsored health insurance helps millions of employees • Many people enjoy work • Problem arise when family & work roles become overwhelming

4. Resolving Work & Family Conflicts • Manage conflict so that different ideas, opinions & approaches are brought out for discussion • Preventive strategy • Resolve conflict when it becomes too disruptive • Conflict interferes with family members’ ability to get their work done • Threatens the security & functioning of family • Cultivate a sense of humor and thus create an atmosphere of mutual support • Newest strategy • Can’t control universe; mistakes happen

5. Causes of Conflicts • Values – our work ethic, our sense of family responsibility, etc. • Facts – our perceptions of the facts • Role perceptions – how different people view a role • Methods – disagreements about best or right way to do something • Objectives – differences over what the objectives should be & their relative importance

6. Questions that Impact How Conflicts are Resolved • How strong is each individual’s concern with satisfying his/her own interests? • How strong is each individual’s concern with satisfying interests of his/her spouse or children?

7. Solutions • Compromise – each person makes concessions • Accommodation – needs of each person are accommodated or adjusted to as best they can be

8. Unemployment & the Family • Unemployment is a crisis event affecting all aspects of a person’s & a family’s life including resource management & social support systems • Going from 8 hours of work per day to 0 requires adjustment of • Time • Ego • Family • Income • Stress from job insecurity is related to marital & family dysfunction

9. Interchange Between Work & Family • Severe personal or family problems affect work performance • Many employers offer Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) to help workers & families with emotional, financial, and legal difficulties, and alcohol & drug abuse

10. Family-Supportive Workplace Policies • Compressed workweek • Part-time hours or alternative work schedules • Job sharing • Tuition reimbursement • Self-employment • Access to outside services (child & elder care, for example) • Mentoring programs • Wellness programs • Flexible hours • Telework • Achievement awards • Perks such as dry cleaning, low-cost cafeterias, child-care on-site, etc. • Satellite offices • On-site educational services

11. List of Benefits • Movie

12. Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) • Employees in companies with more than 50 employees can take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave for childbirth, adoption, foster care or to care for ill family members or themselves • Employers must continue health care coverage • Employees are guaranteed same job or comparable position when they return • Certain highly paid “key” employees are exempt

13. The Meaning of Work & Leisure • Average workweek today is about 30% shorter than 100 years ago • Fair Labor Standards Acts (1938) – reduced workweek to 44 hours • By 1941 workweek was reduced to 40 hours

14. The Work Ethic • Degree of dedication or commitment to work • Part of an individual’s value orientation • Individuals who adhere to a strong work ethic tend to be more polite, responsible, & conservative; tend to resist social change and tend to be rigid • Has been redefined based on the switch to the knowledge economy • Requires specific skills & great deal of employee discretion • Discipline remains important but striving to learn, to conquer new problems, & to find solutions are more likely to generate success

15. Workaholism • The inability to stop thinking about work and doing work • The feeling that work is the most pleasurable part of life • Workaholics may have trouble sleeping, relaxing, going on vacation, or spending time alone or with children & spouse • Workaholics are usually not the most productive workers in a home or organization • A hard worker is different from a workaholic

16. The Three P’s • Procrastination • Putting off work & postponing decisions • Becomes excessive when it is pervasive across all areas of life • Parkinson’s Law • A job expands to fill the time available to accomplish the task • Pareto Principle (the 80-20 rule) • 20% of the time expended usually produces 80% of the results • Bulk of an individual’s time is wasted in low-productivity activities

17. Workforce Trends • Average full-time job is really about 47 hours per week • Lost-weekend – time spent reading reports, grading papers, answering e-mail, etc. • Workforce is aging • Move is away from individual office & cubicles into shared spaces, shared computers, etc. • Downshifting – opting for simpler life, usually less pay, less stress, more time in a more personally satisfying occupation • Home-based work • 59% are male • Typical person is 44 years old, married, & employed in a white-collar profession • Generally better educated & more affluent

18. Volunteer Work • Work that does not generate pay • About half of all American volunteer each year in non-profit sector • One reason people volunteer is sense of social consciousness • Provides a sense of self-worth & self-esteem & heightened social & leadership skills • Some high schools & universities are offering courses & credit for volunteer service

19. Leisure • Freedom from time-consuming activities, tasks, duties or responsibilities • In its broadest sense, it is a state of mind

20. The End!